who had received his Lord’s message and gone back to his house; every tree and stone he passed would greet him. When he entered upon Khadijah he said, “Do you remember the one I told you I had seen in my dream? It was Gabriel—he has now appeared to me; my Lord sent him to me.” He then informed her of the revelation. She replied, “Rejoice! By Allah, Allah will deal with you only in the best of ways. Accept what has come to you from Allah, for it is the truth.”

She thereupon went to ʿAddās, the servant of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, a Christian from Nineveh, and said, “I adjure you by Allah, tell me—do you have any knowledge of Gabriel?” ʿAddās answered, “Quddus, quddus (Most Holy, Most Holy).” She said, “Tell me what you know about him.” He replied, “He is Allah’s trusted envoy between Him and the prophets; he accompanied Moses and Jesus.” She then returned from him to Waraqah and related the matter to him.

This report was also transmitted by Ibn Luhayʿah from Abu al-Aswad, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr in similar form, adding that Gabriel opened a spring of water and performed ablution while Muhammad ﷺ watched him: he washed his face and his hands up to the elbows, wiped his head and washed his feet up to the ankles, then sprinkled his private parts and prostrated twice facing the House. The Prophet ﷺ did exactly as he saw Gabriel do.